Silat: Junior exponents eye Perak outing

BRUNEI'S junior silat exponents are targeting an invitational tournament in Perak, Malaysia, for their first international outing of the year.

Though they have the honour of being invited to the February event, nothing is confirmed yet since Brunei's participation is in the hands of the Department of Youth and Sports.

"We are waiting for a budget from the Department of Youth and Sports," said an official at Brunei Darussalam National Pencak Silat Association (BDNPSA), who wished to remain anonymous.

"The tournament will feature Under-17 and Under-22 categories, and if I am not mistaken it will run from Feb 10-14 and will be held at Tanjung Malim," he added yesterday.

Another event on the calendar for the junior team is the Malaysia Games (Sukma) which Melaka will host in June.

The senior team, meanwhile, have yet to resume training after returning from last month's Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Laos.

The silat team returned with one gold and three bronze medals from the Dec 9-18 biennial meet contributing nearly half to the country's haul of one gold, one silver and eight bronze medals.

"We are still waiting for our Indonesian coach (Suhartono) to return from Jakarta," said national silat exponent Norleyermah Hj Raya yesterday. "He will return on Monday (tomorrow). So far, we have been training by ourselves."

Norleyermah said she is looking forward to the World Silat Championships which will be held in Indonesia in June.

Joining the national team just before the 2005 SEA Games in Manila, Norleyermah is an accomplished exponent who can count the bronze medal she won in the 2007 edition of the World Silat Championships in the women's 'jurus tunggal' (solo) event as one of her greatest achievements.The Brunei Times